City Council overthrow attempt had political and economic implications, say faction leaders

The leaders of some factions from the Chisinau City Council (CMC) have described the moves made by other groups of councilors at the CMC meeting on Friday as an attempt of a coup and usurpation of power in the city. The statements were made at a news conference on Saturday by the representatives of the Liberal Party (PL), Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) and of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), Info-Prim Neo reports. According to them, interests of political and economic nature were behind the attempts of the councilors representing the Communist Party (PCRM), the People's Cristian Democratic Party (PPCD), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the Christian-Humanist Party (PCU) to dismiss CMC chairman Mihai Ghimpu and replace him with the leader of the PSD faction, Eduard Musuc. PLDM faction leader Alexandru Tanase said PCRM and PPCD have never resigned to the loss of power in the city and have constantly torpedoed the non-communist local government. “The coup was plotted by PCRM and PPCD, while PSD accepted the role of an obedient instrument”. According to him, the majority coalition composed of democratic parties represented in the CMC became functional only on the day when PSD obtained a deputy mayor's office and a post of deputy district head. But later, the faction refused to endorse a number of decisions of utmost importance for the life of the city. The economic implication consists in the eagerness of the PCRM and PPCD to recover the possibility of “robbing the city coffers”. Therefore, Tanase urged the press to follow attentively what items the representatives of these factions push into the Council's order of the day. “The Communists have sticky fingers in every business pie” said Tanase. In the same connection, PL faction leader Corina Fusu brought the example of the municipal theater Guguta, which was sold with the endorsement of the theater's administration board, “controlled by the Communists”, bypassing the CMC, which is the sole owner of municipal property. She also stated that the reason why they want Ghimpu out of chairmanship so bad is “his wish to get rid of corruption in the City Hall and the Council”. For his part, Mihai Ghimpu said the real reason behind the attempts to oust him is to eventually remove Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca from office. He thinks that if the 'coup' is successful, PCRM will not dare to undertake instrumental positions in the city's administration less than one year before the parliamentary elections, following the principle “the worse, the better”. He blamed PSD for betraying the democratic coalition of the city and for destroying “the voters' wish for a change”. Councilor Oleg Cernei of AMN labeled the CMC meeting of June 6 “the Black Friday”. He claimed that, in the evening of the day, the space adjoining the City Hall building was flooded with police, while some 300 Komsomolits were ready to intervene from the building of the nearby International University. “I wonder how come they didn't resort to the trick used in the case of Antena C, when everybody was rushed out of the building under the pretext of a bomb alert, to finish the overthrow”, stated Cernei. He also claimed the talks on the new candidate for the CMC chairman's seat were held directly with Vladimir Voronin. The organizers of the conference stated they would not give up their positions in the Council, and would not recognize the dismissal and the election of the new chairman, because the voting procedure was not formally closed. The CMC meeting is to resume on Tuesday, June 10.